On the Queer Potential of Interviews: Or, Stories of as a Mechanism of Institutional Change

• In Event: 308 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Non-heterosexuality: Session II

Abstract

In the last few years, interview methods have been at the heart of methodological debates in cultural sociology. In contrast to such debates, which tend to focus on the limits of in-depth interviewing, philosophical approaches to queer theory emphasize how the act of asking for a justification is itself a cultural practice in need of interrogation. In this paper, I borrow from such insights to explore the queer potential of interview methods. In particular, I argue that justificatory narratives, like those solicited through in-depth interviewing, shape social action through their connections with issues of legitimacy and normativity. But rather than framing such legitimating accounts as inherently destructive — as much queer theory does — I offer the possibility that contagious narratives can engender progressive social transformation. As such, talk isn’t cheap; it’s queer — and powerfully so.

Author

• Alexander Davis, Princeton University